Photo: YouTube
She tried her best Santa Claus impression.
By Isaac Serna-Diez — Written on Feb 22, 2022
In San Diego, California, a 31-year-old woman was found stuck head-first in a chimney by authorities while attempting to slide down the flue into her own home after being shut out by her family earlier during an argument.
Shortly before 5 p.m. Sunday, the woman was seen throwing objects off of the roof before attempting the break-in, according to authorities.
The woman was trapped head-first in the chimney for an hour before firefighters rescued her.
According to OnScene.TV, the situation had already deescalated by the time the authorities arrived with the San Diego woman halfway down the chimney.
She was stuck inside the flue for around an hour until the firefighters arrived on the scene and rescued her from the chimney before she was transported to a nearby hospital for a psychological evaluation.
The firefighters had used what looked like a rope and wench system to reel the woman back up the chimney after tying a rope around her ankles.
Once the woman was a safe enough distance up the chimney, they grabbed a blanket to hide her identity and keep her warm — blocking the view of her from the street and any press that might’ve been stationed outside the home.
San Diego Fire-Rescue Battalion Chief Tommy Charpentier said that they had determined the woman was caught upside down in the flue with her feet sticking up, and that he estimated her head was about six feet off the ground and that she was about ten feet from the chimney's top.
"We had crews put a plan into place and started working multiple angles,” he told OnScene.TV.
“We had crews inside that were attempting to breach the wall to access her, as well as crews go to the roof of the house and use a tripod and a rope and wench system. And that's how we ended up getting her out."
Charpentier went on to talk about how the situation was particularly challenging because when they arrived on the scene, she was talking and responding to the authorities but they didn’t want her situation to deteriorate.
Not only that but the physical extraction and multiple angles they had thought about taking had to be thought about carefully as they didn’t want to cause any harm to the woman stuck inside the chimney.
This isn’t the first time that a woman has attempted to break back into her home via the chimney and failed.
In January 2021, firefighters in Phoenix, Arizona, were called to a home near 19th Avenue and Baseline Road, where a 17-year-old girl had gotten stuck inside of her chimney.
"She was panicking," said a girl, identified only as "Yasmeen," to FOX News. "She was, like, 'call 911!' She couldn't breathe."
The pair of teenagers had been locked out of Yasmeen’s home, and after all their options were exhausted, her friend had the idea to go through the chimney.
"I didn't know it was blocked in the bottom," said Yasmeen. "I never thought it was blocked on the bottom, so she went down and she started freaking out."
The teen had been trapped inside of the chimney for more than an hour and a half before being freed by the same rope and wench system that is commonly used in rescue situations.
Isaac Serna-Diez is a writer who focuses on entertainment and news, social justice, and politics. Follow him on Twitter here.